Telus leads way in promoting workplace diversity

Diversity and inclusion has been a priority for an increasing number of companies in the Philippines. Many companies champion equal opportunity in talent recruitment and retention, regardless of age, gender, heritage or sexual orientation.

For companies with a welldefined diversity and inclusion agenda, this also means recognizing the rights of every individual at the workplace - from having likeminded groups who work to support inclusion, to putting in place policies that address discrimination and harassment to ensuring a supportive work environment.

Diversity is an organizational and leadership priority at Telus International Philippines. As a leading digitally-enabled customer experience and business process solutions company, Telus International Philippines recognizes the business value of diversity and inclusion and works toward ensuring that every member of its 13,000-strong workforce is adequately supported in the workplace, including members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and allies (LGBTQA+) community.

“Telus has always been a friendly company, advocating for and caring toward all of the different types of populations inside our workplace. In fact, the tag line for Telus is, ‘The future is friendly,’ and part of being friendly is supporting our team members,” explained Carlos Giammattei, director of Brand, Marketing, and Culture at Telus International Philippines.

One of the ways in which the LGBTQA+ community within the company is represented is through Spectrum Philippines, the company’s very own LGBTQA+ resource group that collaborates with the leadership team, the brand, marketing and culture team, and the human resources department in ensuring that the concerns of the community are addressed.

Angelo Querubin, a member of Telus Human Resources Department, shared that they make it a point to explain to all applicants what to expect should they join the company. “We discuss what Spectrum is and why it matters. It’s not just about beauty pageants – we actually empower them to become better leaders in the future and we encourage team members to be involved in community work as well,” he explained.

Spectrum provides a platform for the unique concerns of the LGBTQA+ community to be taken up and acted upon. While Telus is one of several companies in the country to already provide healthcare benefits to same-sex partners, it is perhaps one of a few companies to put gender-neutral and self-identified male and female restrooms in all of their office buildings. It may be a rather simple thing, but it addresses a vital concern within a very diverse organization.

Shei Cruz, a member of Telus Operations team and Spectrum, shared, “We implemented gender-neutral restrooms because we knew we had some LGBTQA+ members who were not comfortable sharing restrooms with others they don’t identify with or that are unsure which restrooms they should use. Now, we’re able to provide them with safe spaces in the workplace to address their articulated discomfort.”

“We have now five different types of restrooms. We have traditional male and female restrooms in case there are team members who don’t feel comfortable yet sharing their space, but we have genderneutral ones that anyone can use. Then, we have restrooms for selfidentified male and self-identified female, so there are options for everyone,” Giammattei said.